AJK leadership slams India over GB weather reports, LoC tensions

MIRPUR/ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir's (AJK) top leadership on Sunday slammed India over airing weather reports from Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in the bulletin of state-owned broadcasters, showing them as its own territories, as well as a rise in aggression from New Delhi across the Line of Control (LoC).

Speaking to journalists after offering Fateha prayers at Mirwaiz Muhammad Yusuf Shah's grave, AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan termed the Indian moves as clear evidence of frustration.

"Indian nefarious motives would never yield desired results and the defeat has become her fate”, he added. "We have nothing to do with the Indian cheap tactics such as broadcasting weather reports on AJK and GB.

"We want to remind the United Nations to fulfil its promises made with the people of Kashmir on their right to self determination,” Haider said further.

The AJK premier asserted that after abrogating the disputed region’s special status on August 5, 2019, India was no more a party in the Kashmir dispute.

“India, in fact, is an illegal occupant that violated the international laws and agreements and [is] continuing its occupation through the use of state force”, he said.

The leader also warned India against launching any aggression towards Pakistan or AJK. The region, he added, would be made a graveyard of the Indian forces if they tried to launch attacks.

Haider also recalled prominent leader Mirwaiz Maulvi Muhammad Yusuf Shah’s services on his 53rd death anniversary in creating religious, political, and social awareness among the Kashmiri people. He paid a tribute to him and said his role in the freedom movement was unforgettable.

Separately, AJK President Sardar Masood Khan said India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), as well as its occupation forces and intelligence agencies, were hatching a plot against Pakistan and the Kashmiri people.

In a statement issued Sunday from the AJK Presidential Secretariat, Khan said India’s occupation forces took advantage of the world’s focus on the coronavirus pandemic and diversion of attention from the ongoing genocide in Kashmir, to intensify killing of the valley’s youth and escalate the situation along the LoC.

In the past month, he continued, the Indian forces had killed more than 40 young men from occupied Kashmir in staged encounters. “These are all extrajudicial killings and crimes against humanity,” he said.

The president added that the occupation authorities, however, did not expect two reactions to their murderous campaign in the occupied territory.

First that the Kashmiris — despite being under a nine-month siege and the coronavirus lockdown — came out in large numbers to openly protest the Indian repression and scorched earth policy.

“The uprising is reminiscent of the mass protests and boycotts by Kashmiris after the martyrdom of Burhan Wani in 2016,” he added.

Secondly, the international media once again was shining a spotlight on Indian atrocities and killings, he said.

Unable to handle the two unforeseen developments, the Indian army and intelligence high command had decided to shift blame to Pakistan by weaving weak suspicious stories that Islamabad was creating and funding new entities to fight New Delhi’s occupation apparatus.

“They know that the resistance is 100 percent indigenous”, he said, adding that the Indian intelligence hierarchy — in addition to frequently violating the ceasefire along the LoC — was preparing for a false-flag operation and wargaming to target different parts of Pakistan through proxy wars. “The Indian occupiers have started to play the victim once again. Pakistan should prepare to counter different forms of aggression by India that it is poised to unleash against Pakistan and Azad Kashmir.

“This includes sabotage, espionage, and propaganda,” he said.

Khan said the Indian authorities were until recently quoting a figure of 230 indigenous “militants”. Now, however, they reported a spike of an additional 350, were talking about fictitious “launch pads” in Azad Kashmir, and preparing the ground for more oppression and aggression.

“When you are pushed against the wall, you rise and reclaim what is yours. Victimhood paves the way for annihilation,” he said.

“Kashmiris now say that enough is enough and have risen once again against unrelenting repression.”

The AJK leader said the occupied Kashmir police buried the slain martyrs secretly and did not release their bodies to the families out of fear of massive funerals and demonstrations. “Now, they are even scared of the dead bodies of Kashmiris. How are they going to deal with the living?” he asked.

He condemned the use of pellet guns, tear gas, and live ammunition to quell protests in the Himalayan region. “Many would lose their eyesight. There would be blinded. There are fatalities,” he said. President Khan noted that while the international media and webinars had started highlighting the killing spree in occupied Kashmir, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) remained silent.